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A mentor once told me that she never buys from someone who doesn’t ask for the sale. It was an off-the-cuff remark, but it turned into a powerful lesson for me. At the time, I was just learning how to make sales calls—and how to overcome the associated nervousness. This casual comment somehow bolstered my confidence; the notion of “asking for the sale” seemed to indicate competence and expertise. It has informed my selling—and buying—ever since.

Asking for the sale represents a pivotal moment in the relationship between buyer and seller. When I facilitate sales training I emphasize that asking for the sale shifts the ownership of the situation to the buyer and empowers her or him with the responsibility to say yes or to give a good reason for saying “no.” In both cases, this results in a valuable experience for the salesperson—either a successful close or insight into what else a buyer might need before making the decision to buy.

To me, asking for the sale is a hallmark of a confident, proactive, and professional salesperson. This direct approach is so much more effective than the hemming and hawing I’ve so often encountered among the salespeople with whom I’ve worked over the years. It’s establishes an open, honest tone of “Hey, you have a need; I have a solution. Let’s do business together.”

As a customer, I constantly use this criterion in my buying decisions. If someone doesn’t ask for the sale, I get to wondering why, and I usually ascribe it to one of three reasons:

• The salesperson lacks confidence in the value of the product.

• The salesperson lacks the requisite knowledge of how and when to ask for the sale.

• The salesperson doesn’t really care whether or not I buy.

In each case, I tend to lose my interest. Is it too discerning to prefer doing business with a confident, knowledgeable and caring salesperson? I don’t think so.

Try this out for yourself … For the next week or two, keep track of every purchase you make and count the number of times the salesperson actually asks you for the sale. With small purchases like your daily latte and groceries this expectation might be overkill, but you can certainly track it for clothes, services, gadgets, gifts, and big-ticket items (not to mention cookies or anything else being sold by a youth group on your doorstep). Make them sell before you buy! This will ensure that you’ve had a chance to understand the value of the product before you buy; it will also help hone the skills of the people doing the selling.

What to do when you’re the one doing the selling? Here are some things to keep in mind to help you remember the importance of asking for the sale:

• If you’ve done a good job explaining the benefits of your product or service, you have every right to ask the prospect if they’d like the opportunity to enjoy those benefits by purchasing what you’re selling.

• People aren’t naïve; they know when someone’s trying to sell them something. It’s both odd and even a little rude when a salesperson makes a pitch and doesn’t follow through by asking for the business. The customer can be left wondering “What’s the point of this? Does this salesperson really think I have nothing better to do with my time than hearing about this product?”

• Asking for the sale is the efficient thing to do. If you truly believe in what you’re selling, you’ll want to successfully meet the needs of as many prospects and customers as possible. Asking for the sale helps you do this by encountering any concerns or objections to overcome in this sale, or by giving the customer the right to say “no” and letting you move on to the next potential customer.

Remember, selling is a process of matching the needs of your customer with the benefits of your product. That process isn’t finished until you ask for the sale.

About Peggy Carlaw

Peggy Carlaw is the founder of Impact Learning Systems, a leading training company specializing in improving communications between front-line employees and customers. Peggy is co-author of several books published by McGraw-Hill, including Managing and Motivating Contact Center Employees and The Big… more